At this point, Florida Georgia Line has settled quite nicely into being the great American sedative of our generation. Just as producer Joey Moi did with Nickelback before them, this music affords a vacation from self-reflection or truly beneficial thought. ISIS is beheading people in the Middle East and engaging in horrific genocide, the economic disparity between social classes continues to increase and has never been more pronounced, even stalwart institutions of American culture like the NFL are leaving the populace in doubt. But that’s okay, you can put on the latest Florida Georgia Line single and all the girls are hot, all the guys get laid, and libations and narcotics are at your beck and call. This is the type of vacationary audio lubrication that keeps the engine of corporate America purring along just fine. Don’t get down; get high and buy shit.

Florida Georgia Line would be perfectly happy with continuing to put out Bro-Country “dirt road, beer, tailgate” schlock. After all, they’ve let it be known multiple times that they’re dumfounded by all the Bro-Country critcism. If stadiums are filling up then it must be working and will work forever, but Scott Borchetta put out a company memo to leave that stuff with Dallas Davidson and Chase Rice to sink with, so what we get instead from Florida Georgia Line’s new single “Sun Daze” is a reversion back to the stupid-ass beach bum singalongs—aka the same garbage Bro-Country replaced. Hell, “Bacardi” and “flip flops” are much easier to find things to rhyme with than “tailgate.” Screw that we’re actually heading into the Winter, it’s always sunny in shitty country music la la land.

Where “Sun Daze” turns aggressively awful is in the lyricism. Now to be fair, there’s nothing in “Sun Daze” that we haven’t been hearing for years in pop radio or in Parental Advisory fare, so let’s not freak out about the downfall of civilization. But the problem is that country has now taken over as the leader in raunchy innuendo and overt lyrical references. Time was country music was the safe location on the dial, and KISS-FM is what your 4-year-old didn’t need to hear. Now the pop station is playing inspirational and confidence-building tunes from Lorde and Meghan Trainor, and country is the home of the unfettered smut fest.

If I’m lucky, yeah, I might get laid.The way that it’s goin’ that keg gon’ be floatin’.

All I wanna do today is wear my favorite shades and get stoned.

Kris Kristofferson with the help of Johnny Cash in 1970 already crossed the Rubicon of calling themselves “stoned,” and the result was the CMA for Song of the Year. But there was also a story behind these references, and a deep and dour feeling of self-loathing and reflection, if not a diagnosis of the moral depravity one found oneself in. The simple fact is “Sun Daze” needs this bawdy language of “get laid” and “get stoned” because that’s all it’s got to separate itself from vapid nursery rhyme. “Sun Daze” farmed a melody that was so Mother Goose, they needed to gussy it up with something controversial to have at least something that would pass for “edgy.” Talking about getting laid and stoned in a country song is simply a cry for attention, and is demographic pandering to the repressed suburban boys and girls this stupidity appeals to.

The second verse of “Sun Daze” takes it to another level.

Stir it up as we turn on some Marley If you want you can get on Harley I sit you up on a kitchen sink Stick the pink umbrella in your drink

Well you’ve been anything but coy up to this point in the song fellas, why don’t you just come out and say it? You plan to stick your penis in her vagina … but all of a sudden you don’t have the testicles to spell it out.

What rank immaturity. And it does seem to make it a little worse that they’ve decided to do their pink umbrella sticking on the Lord’s day. Not to get too preachy or anything, but that is the everlasting dichotomy of country music: let loose on Saturday night, and atone on Sunday. Now let’s screw that tradition all up as well since it makes for catchy, purposely-misspelled crud jargon for über douches whose “religious” ideals are only as skin deep as their $700 bicep tattoos of Gothic crosses that are more about marketing than expression or reverence.

There’s much worse out there folks, which is sad to say in itself. That’s the evil genius about Joey Moi and Florida Georgia Line. They passed on the song “Burnin’ It Down” which the duo co-wrote (and was cut by Jason Aldean), and I don’t care if it shot to #1 because the label sent a Brinks truck over to Clear Channel driven by hookers with cocaine—“Burnin’ It Down” is a polarizing song that is destined for the waste bin of country music history because deep down it’s just really bad. But “Sun Daze” is America’s next ear worm. Of course it sucks, but Florida Georgia Line once again proves its ability to craft an engaging melody to enrapture America’s gullible middle. And the descent of country music registers yet another low water mark.

Two guns down.

(aka, any points for melody construction are erased by the transgressions in the lyricism)

It’s awful! I think it’s an insult to Chad Kroeger to even be compared to these guys. While his songs may have gradually went more pop, at least a lot of the songs like “Photograph” and others were not horrible and idiotic like these. These songs just have absolutely no depth or even thought put into them. It’s just people sitting around trying to come up with stupid ass lyrics, recycled from previous songs.

Chad Kroeger is horrible and idiotic, Nickelback is to rock 100% the same as is FGL to Country. Nickelbacks songs are excactly the same as bro country, absolute trash, pointless dribble. I’m sure the dumbasses in Nashville are already planning out a CMT crossroads episode with a collaboration of these two misical discraces!

I asked this question on Twitter the other day. What’s worse: Nickelback or bro country? Both sound the same on every single song. And I hope you just didn’t give them an idea for the CMT Crossroads thing. Nickelback and [insert bro country artist here] together would make for one of the worst songs ever.

I don’t think Nickelback is good either, but I would completely disagree that they are anything near this bad and I don’t think it’s even close.. These lyrics are literally like they are being written by 6 year old trying to rhyme like terms.

“As I have said before, bro-country represents the lyrical nadir of recorded commercial music from any era.”

I don’t agree with that. Not to pick on hip hop, but I still think 2000’s-era commercial rap music, particularly “crunk,” takes the cake in that department. Take a gander at songs like “Shake That Laffy Taffy,” “Ms. New Booty,” and the collected output of one Mr. Soulja Boy. (There are some other incredibly stupid ones I can’t remember, because I’ve done my best to blot them out of my consciousness.)

I always thought it was unfortunate that a genre such as hip hop, which is based so much in lyricism, became associated in the mainstream with songs containing such poor lyrics. And unfortunately I think bro-country (and mainstream country in general) absorbed the lyrical values of bad commercial rap, which is really not a good fit for the genre, in my opinion.

I am getting so tired of the dumbing down of lyrics and the irresponsibility of those who “sing” those lyrics. How many kids because of songs like this are thinking it’s okay to get drunk/stoned and have a meaningless hookup while FGL is blaring in the background. Tired of hip-hop being mentioned in “country” songs, tired of lyrics that mean nothing and here’s yet one more song of theirs I’ll turn off as soon as it hits my radio airwaves. I have no idea what you’d call their music but they’re not country, they’re not hip-hop, they’re not pop, they’re just lost little boys who are leading their rabid followers in directions they shouldn’t be going. So much for the almost “promise” of Dirt. Arrrrrrrghhhhhh!

And the fact they’re doing a live gig on the premier of “Nashville” just adds more flame to the fire. Guess who will find something else to do for the three or four minutes (hopefully not more) of screen time they’re on.

Not to mention, it’s really not that edgy anyway when everyone else is doing it. In today’s country music environment releasing a song like “Life Turned Her That Way” or “I Gues Things Happen That Way” (just to name a couple) would be much edgier than continuing to churn out crap like this.

Actually, no, that’s not me. I haven’t written in for a week or so because it makes everyone mad. Lil Dale was just a joke man. I’m sorry to everyone he annoyed. It was fun while it lasted but all good things must come to an end. You won’t have Lil Dale to kick around anymore.

Once again these artists show their skin deep knowledge of artists. Merle Haggard would kick both their asses. Bob Marley wasn’t all about sitting on a beach smoking pot. He was about fighting political oppression and other social issues through song—shit way over the heads of these two knuckleheads.

I don’t even know where to start. I guess I could go with how sick I am of all this name dropping crap. I get it. These are singers closer to the age of 40 than 30 pandering to listeners in their teens or early 20s. Well, I’m on in my 30s, grew up in south Alabama and I can tell you, at those little parties in the woods we weren’t listening to Hank, Haggard or Merle. We were teenagers and as such we listened to what was popular at the time. I imagine they were too. So this name dropping of classic artists to me is just a pathetic plea for credibility.

Second, if there were any justice in the world, these morons would never have stood on a stage in the worst dive bar of whatever town they happened to be in at the time let alone had airplay. These “bros” have made a fortune lampooning the very areas they grew up in and twisting the people of those areas into a caricature. The worst part being that a good portion of their youth fan base will take this crap to heart and start trying to live out what they’re singing.

I think so called “country” artists like FGL use references to Merle, Waylon, Cash, Strait, etc. in a negative way. The way I see it, FGL referenced Merle to remind you that:

“Hey! This is a country song! It doesn’t sound like it, but we mentioned Merle Haggard so that you will be reminded!”

Dan+Shay did the same shit in one of their songs when they referenced hanging out with a girl while listening to George Strait in one of their songs (and for the life of me I can’t remember which one). The same tactics used by FGL

Artists like Alan Jackson though have it right. Alan references Hank Williams Sr. and George Jones many times in his songs. Hell, “Midnight In Montgomery” didn’t just give Hank Sr. a mention, but the whole damn song was centered on him.

“the economic disparity between social classes continues to increase and has never been more pronounced”

I know that SCM is not a political site, but quotes like this confirm its true political leanings: economically liberal and culturally conservative.

In a sense, that type of political view is truly representative of many old Southerners: poor rural folks who revered both traditional Christianity and the New Deal. The New South is far more economically conservative due to greater wealth.

It’s the height of arrogance to make these proclamations based on a few sentences on a totally unrelated topic and your own pure speculation. Being a political junkie doesn’t give you some all knowing ability to accurately label someone’s personal political beliefs when you don’t even know the person.

2) Maybe I went too far with the word “confirm”, and should have used “hint at” instead.

However, clear patterns of deep values can be gleaned from certain hints.

When someone repeatedly criticizes corporate power, calls for increased regulation (by repealing the Telecom Act, for example), and even criticizes economic inequality, then it is relatively safe to assume that the person holds some economically liberal values.

Similarly, when someone repeatedly talks about moral decay, attacks cultural melding, criticizes some women for “not respecting themselves”, etc., then it is relatively safe to assume that the person holds some socially conservative values.

For the record, I absolutely agree with most of the economic views that Trigger hints at on SCM. In my view, the real roots of country include a strong strain of economic populism, and I am glad that Trigger and much of the SCM community is bringing that back into the country music sphere.

No need to apologize it’s just a pet peeve of mine when people politicize everything. I come to sites like this to escape the constancy of it all and when it creeps here or into sports it really bugs me. Seems like recently there is no escape from it all.

With all due respect Eric, I wouldn’t try to pigeon hole me. There are plenty of conservatives concerned about the economic divide as well, and many non-partisan economists who see it as shaky ground to build a recovery on.

The concern about economic inequality, the strongly anti-corporate rhetoric, and the advocacy for increased corporate regulation (e.g. by repealing the Telecom Act) all fit a pattern. Economic conservatives who worship the unregulated free market would disagree with you on all of these issues.

I think that pattern is or includes wanting artists to make great country music and radio to play it again like they did before the Telecom Act allowed them to consolidate, centrally control playlists, go pop, and squeeze female artists out more (it’s interesting that country radio played them a little more in the 1990s before things really went downhill years after the 1996 Telecom Act took effect and consolidation got so big). I’ve seen people working in country radio talk about how the Telecom Act ruined the music and I just found these in Google:

Exclusion of female artists is a recent phenomenon in country radio. Up through last decade, the country music industry was trying to appeal to primarily female audiences, and female singers often dominated the country charts.

It is only over the last 2-3 years, with the rise of bro-country, that the female presence has completely fallen off the cliff.

This review gave me a lady boner. “A Brinks truck driven by hookers with cocaine” I am dying. If he didn’t sing and play guitar it would take a Brinks truck full of designer shoes and bags to bribe any lady to “Burn it down” with Aldean. He is not aging well at all. In five more years he is going to have to perform with his hat down to his nose so he doesn’t scare small children.
As far a Sun Daze (sounds like a store brand name of generic Mountain Dew), it’s a juvenile, pig song. The lyrics sound like something a group of little boys would say to try and shock little girls. I’m surprised it doesn’t have a line in our about playing doctor or spin the bottle. Were these 5 “song writers” playing perverted mad lib and decided to record it? It’s getting to the point that your can’t even listen to the radio in front of you’re kids anymore because of this type of trash. Whatever, stupid girls will like it and it will be played a gazillion times on the radio.

In my humble estimation , Trigger , with this article you’ve outdone yourself in crystallizing and calling out this radio crap . And THAT is saying something because you are almost ALWAYS on the mark .

This lyric is what I call a shit-lyric . That is ..it can be written in the time it takes to shit …and likely was . I’ts an insult to REAL songwriters , real musicians and singers and last but far from least ..REAL.MUSIC FANS. When does ‘dumbing down’ reach the bottom rung ? Myself and many many other songwriters have songs rejected by publishers , labels and artists all day long because they aren’t ‘crafted’ as well as they could be. At the same time , radio is flooded with garbage like this which goes contrary to nearly all of the ‘guidelines’ the aforementioned powers that be suggest writers adhere to …movement in the lyric , story/narrative, strong hook melodically and in the narrative and countless other factors which go into crafting a great song with timeless appeal and heart.

. A long time member of NSAI ( Nashville Songwriters Association International ) I finally let my subscription lapse with a direct reference to the disconnect between what THEY consider a pitch-ready song and what is ACTUALLY being recorded and released. I’m not suggesting that my songs are worthy of cuts when this kind of crap isn’t . Wait a minute – YES I AM . That’s exactly what I and hundreds of other un-cut writers are ( or should be ) suggesting !

Absolutely man, and it’s not even that we can’t have songs like this, it’s that there is seemingly no room for anything else. The publishers will blame labels, who blame radio, who blame the audience. And the only people who lose are the songwriters and artists who don’t have songs that precisely fit their mold. They reject your hard work as they sit on a pile of cash telling you how “well crafted” these party songs are.

Albert,
I thought I was the only one who felt that way about NSAI…
I am letting my membership lapse, too. I got tired of all my submissions coming back with comments like “Wow, great song, I’d love to hear this kind of stuff on the radio…but we can’t pitch it to the publishers because they just won’t be interested…”
Maybe someday if the Country music pendulum swings back the other way I may re-join, but for now it’s a waste of time and money.
Good luck to you and all of us independent writers!

It’s a shame that country music is loosing it’s sense of morality with vapid shallow songs that reference “getting laid” and crap. But I guess this should be expected because with these fratboy morons running the show and probably being influenced heavily on the themes of some notorious rappers, country music is turning itself into the shallowness, immorality and impotence that fills the lives of young folks around the world.

Throwing away the tradition of the music also throws away it’s values and wisdom.

Where is the Country Music Gentleman these days, that can show that these narcissist morons don’t really have much to begin with?

“I”™ve always found country to be basically like a church,” he continued. “It”™s got to keep evolving, but it”™s gotta do it in a way that it doesn”™t lose its values or its core congregation. But it has to continue attracting new parishioners.”

I wasn’t going to ruin my morning by actually listening to the song – but I did it anyway. What’s most amazing to me is how, every time I think the production and arrangement of this crap can’t possibly get any worse, I’m proven wrong – time and time again.

You can’t even identify the instruments in that mess. It’s just an annoying, over compressed, hissy drone comprised of every digital instrument their 1980s era Casio keyboard (the one with the small keys) had to offer. You can barely differentiate the vocals from that instrumental mess.

I rarely don’t see how production can possibly get any worse than this. But…that’s what I said last time…

Man ….I almost overlooked the most depressing thing about this song . SARAH BUXTON is credited as a writer ? I can hardly believe a writer of her talent and skill would even WANT her name attached to this fresh steaming pile of camel dung . Sarah, Sarah ,Sarah !! Why, why, why ?? Deal drugs …make contract “hits”….sell your little brother …..whatever it takes to pay rent ….but stay away from this blackened underbelly of the music business…..please !

Sarah also sang and got auto-tuned on Dayum, Baby. I want to cringe when I see a female on any bro-country song credits. Maybe bros think it helps legitimize this stuff, like when TV cameras focused on Taylor dancing to FGL’s first awards show performances (planned?).

Sooooo…. Trigger, where does your return towards traditional country theory play in here? “Dirt” may have been a moderate step towards more traditonal country, but using it as a flagpost of a genre’s pivot seemed like a stretch. “Anything Goes” may not be as bro-country as “Good Times,” but only because there will be too much pop, hip-hop, dance, rap, and apparently reggae’s evil step child. Theorizing that contemporary country is moving away from bro country may prove accurate, but theorizing that it’s moving towards traditional country is just wishful thinking

It’s not a theory about returning to more traditional music as much as it is about returning to music of more substance. And it’s just a theory, meaning it is throwing out an idea backed up by certain evidence, but not concrete enough to establish in any definite manner.

But I will say this song and a few others aside, I still think there’s evidence that Music Row is trying a little harder. I even see it in this bones of this song in the way that it avoided the Bro-Country tropes for the most part. There’s always going to be bad songs and fans to listen to them. With trying to spy trends it’s necessary to zoom out and look more big picture.

“I would throw in Luke Bryan releasing ”˜Roller Coaster”™ as another sign that the labels are slowly going away from the bro stuff.”

Good call. Same goes for Jake Owen with “What We Ain’t Got.”

Regarding traditionalism, at this point it seems like the only thing that could possibly push commercial country back in that direction is for a popular mainstream artist to sneak some traditional-sounding material past the radar, and then have big commercial success with it. It’s a copycat business, after all. And for that to happen, I think it would require is that the young frat-rock audience drift away from country radio and move onto something else.

“Sun Daze”??? Great googily-moogily, that is utterly awful. Those lyrics read like bad Kiss outtakes. While the occasional beach-bum anthem is all well and good I find it difficult to believe it can support an entire genre. “Sun Daze”…LOL!

Maybe they’re too high to even comprehend what they’re listening too, but how does a playlist including Haggard, Marley, Jagger, and Hip-Hop sound like anything cohesive and relevant to one another… that’s quite a random mix tape, quite like their previous mix of a “little Hank, little Drake.”

These guys try to name drop everyone that’ll add to their credibility in the country scene and rap scene, and it doesn’t make them cool, just dumb.

Five writers ……. Five writers …….. and not one of them stopped for a second and thought, “My God, this is terrible. This is literally going to make people dumber just by hearing it. We can’t release this crap”

It’s hard to understand their weak, flat, whiny, auto-tuned vocals but this is what I hear:

Stir it up as we turn on some Marley
If you want you can PET on my Harley
I’ll sit you up on a kitchen sink
And stick the pink umbrella in your drink
The way that we’re feelin’ we gone by this evenin’

I’m not sure it’s “pet” but it sounds like it and fits in those lyrics better. Think about it, they are listening to Marley in the crib and that ain’t a motorcycle in the kitchen, it’s an Anaconda. Cue Nicki Minaj twerking on a sink in the remix video.

Average auto-tuned vocals, generic pop music, name-dropping of legends, copying pop and rap lyrics with sexual innuendo and a rapper’s “hey” (must be the money) shouts. Real original country song! FGL is getting robbed at the Grammys!

It sucks that country radio has flip-flopped and sold out, and now pop radio has higher standards and better music. Pop played the Cruise remix with Nelly but would they play this without him? Nickelback is better. Country radio programmers who play Sun Daze to #1 and say they can no longer play better female songs to top 20, not even from proven top critically acclaimed artists Kellie Pickler (who has 6 top 10-20 hits), Kacey Musgraves, etc. including songs like Follow Your Arrow without objectifying sexual innuendo and with some similar possibly risky lyrics, are full of crap.

“Where “Sun Daze” turns aggressively awful is in the lyricism. Now to be fair, there”™s nothing in “Sun Daze” that we haven”™t been hearing for years in pop radio or in Parental Advisory fare, so let”™s not freak out about the downfall of civilization. But the problem is that country has now taken over as the leader in raunchy innuendo and overt lyrical references. Time was country music was the safe location on the dial, and KISS-FM is what your 4-year-old didn”™t need to hear. Now the pop station is playing inspirational and confidence-building tunes from Lorde and Meghan Trainor, and country is the home of the unfettered smut fest.”

But radio won’t play most of them so no one gets inspired. At least pop radio has some balance due to keeping up to at least 6 female songs in heavy rotation in the top 10 at all times plus positive male songs like Pharrell’s Happy.

So country radio won’t play most female artists, pop or country, no matter how talented they are, how much better they sing and without auto-tune, how great their music is, how much it sells, how much critical acclaim they get, how many Grammys they win, how many radio interviews and special shows they do to help radio, how many huge TV shows they perform on to send radio listeners, etc., but plays brand new 100% pop male acts like Sam Hunt who better fit pop radio. Of course they sell and since when do catchy generic pop songs radio overplays don’t?

I just noticed how their heads are both cocked to the side in the cover photo. Looks like they’re in the middle of the “Roxbury Guys” SNL skits with Jim Carrey, Will Farrell, and Chris Kattan. Maybe they’re planning on covering “What is Love?” at some point.

Yeah a brain dead, repetitive insult like “dumb morons” is probably not going to win anyone over to your line of thinking. To add, maybe the reviews of bad country music receive more comments because not as many people have issues with good artists. Then again, I’m probably feeding a troll anyway so have a nice day.

Horrible. Who in the world could like this stuff? Sad to say I occasionally stop off at a military/biker bar after work here in my fair city, and one is quite likely to hear some shit like this or the aforementioned Nickelback played on the jukebox by someone adorned in Harley regalia. I play Hank 3 and get WTF looks, haha!

Let’s not forget hey aren’t the only ones singing about getting stoned and narcotics these days. Sadly there isn’t a lot of music out there these days that isn’t PG- something or R, classic country sound, pop country, or other.

I’m new to this website, but really love what you’re doing here. I have a big, obvious question, but I’m hoping you can point me in the right direction so I can start becoming a catalyst for change, too.

I don’t buy this type of music, and I’m as fed-up as the rest of everyone on this site about the decline of country music. The only place I really hear this stuff is on the radio (and I can’t imagine people buy/pay for this kind of crap). HOW do we go about requesting change? Is it calling up the local radio stations (I have 3 in my area) frequently, and telling them I hate/love a certain song or type of music? I know they’re playing what they’re being told to play, but I want to make my voice (and the voices of others) heard, so that they know not everyone can be brainwashed by this bro-country crap they’re trying to shove down everyone’s throats. I purchase music for artists that I really like and appreciate, but what else can be done?

Yeah, this is about as “bro” as country has ever gotten in a mainstream single. The worst part is that this will do well on the radio because it’s FGL. It’s almost like the lukewarm response to “Dirt” from the duo’s fan base has caused them to backpedal into the douchiest mainstream country song of all time. Good job, guys. You’ve broken another record.

It’s a summer party song. It’s simple if you don’t like it just don’t listen to it and stop complaining, there are more important things to worry about. It’s not a terrible song or else people wouldn’t be listening to it everyone has they’re own taste.

I woke up at 4 a.m. with this abomination of an earworm stuck in my head, and stumbled upon this spot-on review.

I don’t understand how anyone finds this song (or most of FGL and “bro country”) appealing. Then again, I work in a retail setting with a bunch of young adults half my age — with the local country station as backdrop music — and they don’t understand why I want to stab my eardrums out whenever this song and several others come on. ”¦ They like it.

So FGL can’t be wrong. Right?

Guess that depends whether you’re judging them on commercial success or artistic merit, for clearly the two concepts are barely on speaking terms in 21st Century Nashville.

This song doesn’t offend me for its content. I might be married to a pastor, but I’m not a prude. (Though I’m a bit surprised at its raunchiness now that I know Tyler Hubbard was once a worship leader.) ”¦ Good party songs have their place.

But as the reviewer notes, none of this is fresh ground even in country music. It’s all been done, and so much better. So. Much. Better.

In the end what bothers me — as I try to explain to my young co-workers — is FGL music’s cheap-plastic, throwaway nature. Kristofferson and Cash gave us moonshine in a Mason jar; FGL offers cotton candy vodka in a Solo cup.

Then there’s the appropriateness dichotomy of “Sun Daze.” It’s a composition and arrangement that sound like a theme song for Nick Jr., paired with lyrics reminiscent of a 14-year-old boy’s ideas of how awesome it will be as a grown-up, with discretionary income to blow on Harleys and booze and pot and bitches.

That such a meritless song is recorded at all is disappointing, though unfortunately not surprising. That it could reach No. 4 on the country charts is an indictment of the industry and our greater society.

“Sippin’ On Fire” is now announced to be the album’s third single, and while it is another insanely overproduced mess of noise and gratuitous AutoTune, it admittedly is yet another solid earworm with a potent melody line that will certainly be their eventual seventh airplay chart #1. At least there’s no lyrics in this song that are particularly awful. If anything, it’s basically their version of the tread-to-death “Lonely Tonight” theme.

I do think the perceived waning of bro-country as a marketable trend as of late may result in a silver lining being that both “Good Good” and the title track will remain album tracks and not get radio treatment, while “Confession” has probably surged in interest as an eventual single with its notably pensive and spacey tone. I thought for sure “Good Good” would inevitably assault our eardrums on the radio dial, from their immense struggles to string together one coherent sentence in the entire song to the gratuitous innuendoes to backseat sex……………but I’d say it’s looking much more likely we’ll at least dodge that bullet! =P

*

At any rate, while “Sun Daze” may have succeeded to make it to #1 (which I did assume would happen)………………the bigger picture has to be considered here from a commercial perspective.

Granted streaming has severely dampened digital sales regardless of genre and format, and so I’m not going to be blind to the fact most of their chart rivals are in the exact same boat and are witnessing diminished returns in finding a gold certification is the new Platinum certification.

Still, considering all the publicity and shock value hype “Sun Daze” incited initially, heavy airplay and highly-publicized performances…………”Sun Daze” is the first Florida Georgia Line single to fail to make the Top Forty of the composite Billboard Hot 100 chart. And it has yet to garner a Gold certification.

Florida Georgia Line may have won the battle here, but they will be at grave risk of losing the war if they don’t take the notable sales trendlines into consideration. If I were them, I would push “Confession” as the fourth and final single and consider closing the era then. Then, reflect on the fact that their lead single from this album, “Dirt”, barely missed the Top Ten of the Billboard Hot 100…………while a reversion to dumb-as-sand formula in “Sun Daze” couldn’t even make the Top Forty. Let that sink in and marinate………….and maybe then they’ll come to an epiphany that the secret to more money, tattoos and wallet chains resides NOT in tapping more into that “Dirt” vein.

I’m new to country music. Always hated it. Still can’t the country “greats” like Willie Nelson and Hank Williams Jr. But I do like me some Allman Bros., Skynyrd, Gov’t Mule, Dead, all of whom share a little with some country music. But my son, who is autistic, and who pays absolutely no attention to what’s cool or popular or sends the right message, etc., LOVES Florida Georgia Line (and Luke Bryan and Taylor Swift, who I understand is no longer making country music.) So I’ve taken him to see FGL (twice) and LB. Thought I was going to hate it. Really enjoyed the shows. You can sing every song by the second verse. It’s pleasing to the ear. The wordsmithing is fun and entertaining. I could certainly do without drug references and was disappointed with those. But you can’t listen to this music expecting to be challenged or hear something truly innovative. That’s asking too much. This isn’t “Frontline” or even “Seinfeld.” It’s “Happy Days” and that’s all it’s meant to be. Enjoy it for what it is. I do.